deviate

Quick Hits

Bo — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:05:06 +0000

I’m pretty confident my life has never been this fulfilling as it has been over the past two months.
I’m also pretty sure, I love where my relationship is with Jesus right now. But I want it to get even better!
I have been praying for 2 things expectantly from God. I’ve been trying to align my desires with His. I only want what He wants for me
I am still trying to get some audio and video of me preaching to put on here. The AV person is not helping me at all though!
I love serving Jesus. It is exhausting, but I love it.
Cemetary Seminary has consumed so much of my time lately. And I’m only taking one class!
I am praying for some big changes in my life that I am so excited about.
I found out that two of my friends that I have been friends with for years know Jesus! I made a huge mistake assuming and I finally worked up the guts to ask them the question. I would be a terrible friend if I didn’t talk with them about Jesus.
Work is paying the bills, but I want so much more than what I do right now.
It looks like I may be driving to Casper, Wyoming next week. That drive sucks!
I am getting ready to fly to DC for the first time in my life. I am so pumped to go there!

Where is your focus?

Bo — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:17:10 +0000

Here’s my communion thought for this past weekend:

Where is your focus?

About a month ago I completed a really long fast. That was the longest fast I had ever done in my entire life. It was not fun every day and it was honestly one of the toughest things I have ever done in my life.

Some of you may not know what a fast is so let me tell you. A fast is when you go without food so that you change your focus off of food and put it on God. It’s really weird how that works. You wouldn’t think that going without food can draw us closer to God, but it really can! Side note here – do not leave this room and say that you are going to go do a fast. If you are interested at all in fasting you need to talk with me or any of the other adult leaders in here before you leave. I don’t need your mom and dad coming to me or Charlie, Matt, Jo, or Jerran saying that their child isn’t eating. Like I said, if you are interested in fasting you need to talk with one of us first.

One of the ugly things that I found while I was fasting was my severe emotional attachment on food. I talked about food all the time. I thought about food all the time. I planned my day around when I was going to eat and what I was going to eat. A lot of people would ask me if I was fasting to loose weight. And my answer was always NO FREAKING WAY! It’s not about loosing weight; it’s about putting your focus back on God. Trust me, when you want to eat really badly when you are fasting you will start praying a lot more than you usually do. We don’t have to try to focus on God more, we automatically do it. During my fast, I started praying for 3 pretty audacious things. I won’t tell you what they are because that’s between me and God, but my focus had to change off of the stuff of the world and be put on God before I saw what I needed to pray for.

Let me read you several things what scripture says about this:

[Matthew 6:16-18 (ESV)]
16"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Jesus says that we should change our focus. We shouldn’t focus on everything around us. We shouldn’t focus on what other people say about us. We should focus on feeling sorry for ourselves. We should put our laser like focus on being obedient to God and representing Christ in the world. Do you know how to have that laser like focus? A laser has a very exact, pin-point beam that is focused on one thing and nothing else. That’s how our focus on God should be. We shouldn’t let anything else like boyfriends, girlfriends, or even being cool like our friends take our focus off of Jesus. Is that hard to do? OF COUSE IT’S HARD TO DO! If it was easy to always stay focused on Jesus we wouldn’t have to talk about it and everyone else would do it and have no problem with it.

Paul says…

[1 Corinthians 9:24-28 (ESV)]

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives(A) the prize? So(B) run that you may obtain it. 25Every(C) athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we(D) an imperishable. 26So I do not run aimlessly; I(E) do not box as one(F) beating the air. 27But I discipline my body and(G) keep it under control,[a] lest after preaching to others(H) I myself should be(I) disqualified.

Paul is saying we must always run the race and persevere to keep our lives focused on Jesus. As you take communion today, yes, think about the sacrifice Christ made for you on the cross, but also be honest with yourself and ask yourself is Jesus really the focus of my life? Is Jesus really guiding me in what I do every day? Do I show the love of Jesus to others?

When we are done praying, all of you can go ahead and get up and take communion in the back of the room. Let’s pray…

Old School

Bo — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:06:54 +0000

I was reading someone’s blog today and had an idea. So I thought I would dig into my server archives and pull out some old school photos. Not quite sure what drummed up the thought, but here are the pictures nonetheless.

Hope you like the pics. Gotta love the black and white goodness.

The Garage Sale

Bo — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:00:07 +0000

My church just put on a freaking monstrous garage sale. And for the record, I have the hardest time saying garage sale because I always call them yard sales. People from church donated all the items to be sold at the yard garage sale. People donated for two days straight and brought in a ton of stuff!

Friday night I went to church and me and several other people began moving everything out of the worship center and into the parking lot where all of the sections were setup. We had all types of “departments” like sporting goods, house wares, furniture, electronics, tools, etc… and they took up most of the parking lot. I ended staying up all night moving everything from the worship center to the parking lot. There was so much stuff.

Around 5 AM, the other volunteers started showing up to help the few of us that had stayed there all night. We got everything moved outside and they sale started bright and early.

I was outside in the parking lot all day cooking and selling hamburgers and hot dogs. I cooked so many hamburgers and hot dogs, it was crazy. And I also got the crap burnt out of me too. My face and arms are so red right now. Thank goodness for solarcaine.

Okay, I’m off to go finish up some homework and go get in the bed. I’m still pretty tired from not sleeping.

Fasting reflections

Bo — Fri, 21 May 2010 03:19:22 +0000

So today is the last day of my 40 day fast. I am getting ready to go to Waffle House at midnight to break my fast in about 3 hours and it’s going to be incredible! Though I probably won’t be able to eat much, that’s okay. And no, I have never done a 40 day fast before. The longest fast I have done has been a 21 day fast so this was my first 40 day.

I have had three extremely specific things I have been praying for while I’ve been on my fast. Sorry, that’s between me and God. As scripture is pretty clear on those things remaining private. I have been praying like crazy for these things. I’m not sure what is going to happen with them, but I do know that God is completely handling them.

It’s been funny while I have been on my fast. I have been around people a lot when they eat and I haven’t been. I have gotten a variety of reactions from people when I tell them that I am fasting (and the majority of these being statements made by Christians):

“You should eat. Fasting is not healthy.”
“You have to eat something!”
“That’s not good for you.”
“Why are you fasting?!?!”
“Be careful because your body needs calories”
(My personal favorite) – “I don’t know why you are fasting; It won’t bring you closer to God”

Every single one of these reactions have honestly frustrated the crap out of me. My high school small group that I lead at church had way more mature reactions than every single adult I have talked with (except for one family). It’s absurdly ridiculous how out of touch people are who say they follow Christ but aren’t willing to be obedient to Him in this area. Prayer and fasting are one of the biggest weapons that we have against the enemy. We see this example over and over again in the scriptures.

The cool thing about my fast that I didn’t expect is that it has given me more opportunities to shre the Gospel while I have been fasting because people want to know why in the world I would go 40 days without eating something. Yes, it’s intense to go from consuming around 6000 calories a day to 0. (Just so you know the first 3 days of my fasts are always the toughest for me because my body is freaking out and doesn’t know what to do). In John 4 Jesus’ disciples come to Him and tell Him that He needs to eat something and He responds with this simple statement:

“I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

My goal over the past 40 days has been to have this attitude that Jesus had. And this has also been my response to all the reactions I mentioned earlier. It’s funny how not eating anything and depriving your body of calories can draw us closer to Jesus. I can honestly and confidently say that I have been relying a lot more on the provision of God over these past 40 days than I have at any other point in my entire life.

I am from the south and I went from being in one of the unhealthiest states in the US to now living in the healthiest state in the US. (Did I just say something positive about Colorado?..Nah, must have been a typo). It has been an eye opener for me. I have a severe emotional attachment to my food. I plan my life around food. Most of my conversations revolve around food. So many of my thoughts focus on food. All of these factors were huge motivation for my fast but it became so much more than that. It shifted from not focusing on food to focusing and relying on Jesus.

This days is so bittersweet because I don’t want my fast to end. I’m really not hungry and I don’t want this closeness with God to end, but it’s time to end the fast. Over the past two days thinking about my fast coming to an end, I have thought about doing another 40 day fast and coordinating the 40 days of purpose (Purpose Driven Life) with it. I’m not sure on that yet though. I still have some praying and wrestling to do with it first before I decide on that for sure.

To put it simply, this fast has been one of the best things I could have ever done. I just want to be closer to Jesus than I have ever been.

a letter to Bo

Bo — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:03:49 +0000

Bo,

No matter what you go through, I’m right here for you. I got your back. You love me and my Son which means I love you more than your tiny, little brain can understand. Keep your eyes on me and don’t worry about all the other crap going on around you. People have tried to beat you down and hold you back your entire life. People, like your family, have encouraged and loved you dearly when you felt alone. It’s hard for you to get, but I love you even more than that. You aren’t sure where this ministry thing is headed and that’s okay. You will go exactly where I want you and need you to go. Cling to the call I have put on your life and in your heart.

- God

Things I wish they taught in seminary

Bo — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 19:15:15 +0000

After being in seminary for almost a full semester, I have a list of a few things that I am experiencing in ministry that I wish were taught in seminary:

How to help out a kid whose dad just killed himself
How to preach on finances
How to help someone who has a porn addiction
How to be there for a friend going through a divorce
How to not get burnt out in ministry
How, as a spiritual leader, to put your family above the church
How to not look at ministry as simply as a job where you earn a pay check
How to put our own relationship with Jesus above any expectation a church member puts on us
How to not feel guilty for not attending every function that happens at church because others expect you to be there
How to deal with other Christians who piss you off because they are arrogant and think they have everything figured out
How to deal with parents who blame you for all the problems with their kids
How to tell people NO and not be a people pleaser
How to fire a staff member who is also your friend
How to reach those who don’t know Jesus

These are just a some examples that I came up with from experiences this past month.

The Cross of Christ

Bo — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:08:58 +0000

Here’s my communion thought I gave several weeks ago:

How many of you have a cross necklace? Let me give you a little history on how the cross was invented. In Roman days, they would have competitions to see who could invent the greatest torture device. Guess which one won?

This was a device created with the purpose of inflicting as much pain and suffering possible. They nailed the arms so that they would dislocate and cause the lungs to collapse. If you were fortunate enough to not have your lungs collapse and suffocate, you could die from dehydration or heart failure. Though, Jesus had been beaten, whipped and forced to carry the very heavy cross a long distance which all helped to speed up the death process.

So when we talk about suffering and pain in our own lives we need to remember that God witnessed his own son be murdered on a torture device that we now hold up as a symbol of our salvation.

In Galations 6:14, Paul says “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

So go ahead and wear your cross around your neck and let it be a constant reminder of the gift that God gave us through his son. Just remember that Jesus conquered the cross and the grave and that He is alive!

Behind the gold, silver shiny cross is pain and suffering. The cross is the greatest transformation that we have as followers of Jesus. No matter what we go through, we have to realize that we have a savior that died a sinner’s death and God knows our suffering.

Let’s take communion today and remember the sacrifice of Jesus for all of our sins.

How many of you have a cross necklace?

Let me give you a little history on how the cross was invented. In Roman days, they would have competitions to see who could invent the greatest torture device. Guess which one won?

This was a device created with the purpose of inflicting as much pain and suffering possible.

They nailed the arms so that they would dislocate and cause the lungs to collapse. If you were fortunate enough to not have your lungs collapse and suffocate, you could die from dehydration or heart failure. Though, Jesus had been beaten, whipped and forced to carry the very heavy cross a long distance which all helped to speed up the death process.

So when we talk about suffering and pain in our own lives we need to remember that God witnessed his own son be murdered on a torture device that we now hold up as a symbol of our salvation.

In Galations 6:14, Paul says “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Behind the gold, silver shiny cross is pain and suffering. The cross is the greatest transformation that we have as followers of Jesus.

No matter what we go through, we have to realize that we have a savior that died a sinner’s death and God knows our suffering.

Let’s take communion today and remember the sacrifice of Jesus for all of our sins.

Is God convenient to you?

Bo — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:25:19 +0000

Had this thought the other day: Is God simply a convenience to you?

Do you live for Him all the time or only when “it counts” or when others are looking?

We can all fall into the mindset that God is our safety net so that if we fall He is there to catch us. God is there to catch us, but He is so much more than that. He is the God of the universe and He deserves our wholehearted devotion to Him in our lives.

It’s easy to live for God when things are going easy, but your true character shines through when life is tough.

The information age

Bo — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:46:47 +0000

Today, we have access to whatever information that we want. We can get our physical or electronic hands on books, articles, how-to’s, internet resources, blogs, and I could go on forever.

The same is true for the church. Well, for those churches not stuck in the 50′s. Take me for instance, I have read ton’s of pastor’s blogs all over the country, read many church leadership books written by many great Christian leaders all over the world, and I can even ask them direct questions if I want to. This is a fantastic ability to have all of this information literally at my fingertips, but I have only noticed one problem with it. All of this information is useless and worthless if I don’t actually apply the information that I am obtaining.

If I am gathering information for the sake of gathering information I am doing nothing but filling my brain with useless junk that I will never apply, put into action, or allow it to affect my relationships with others. I love reading church leadership stuff and it’s very enjoyable to me, but if I don’t allow it to transform the way that I show the love of Jesus to others, it’s pointless.

We do this same thing as Christians as well. We tell church leaders that we want to “go deeper” which is really a big lie and excuse. People say this as an excuse because that way, they won’t have to be obedient to God with the information that they already have. It’s not an information issue, it’s an obedience issue. A lot of times (most of the time) God doesn’t need to tell us something new, we need to act on and be obedient to what He has already told us.

You don’t need another Bible study, you need to stop cheating on your spouse!

You don’t need the church to add another children’s program, you need to stop treating your family like crap!

You don’t need the worship band to change their style of music, you need to stop watching terrible movies that fill your mind with crap!

You don’t need to have the pastor change his sermon style, you need to tithe!

So next time you feel like telling your pastor you want to go deeper, flip the mirror around on yourself and see the many areas where you aren’t being obedient to God first and you won’t even have time to worry about what God has called another person to do for the Kingdom of Christ.